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Generation Change<\/h2>\r\nThe Purebred Arabian has been at home in Europe for around 200 years. Sometimes, however, I get the creeping feeling that its time being bred here is drawing to a close. The latest figures from the VZAP state that in 2022 we still had 426 breeders in Germany\u2014in 2011 it was more than double that, and in the heydays (1996) there were around 2,800 breeders (excluding the *Freunde*!). The situation looks similar in other countries. The decline in breeders is, of course, also due to demographic change. The “old guard” is quitting or passing away\u2014in this very issue, we have to lament the death of three very renowned and major breeders. And “young” breeders are hardly following in their footsteps.<\/br><\/br>\r\nBut the Arabian is bred worldwide, so it will survive. Currently, around 60% of all Arabian foals worldwide are born in Arab countries! And in the Arab countries, interest remains unbroken, and the audience is young! That should give us hope\u2014shouldn’t it?<\/br><\/br>\r\nA lot has been said and written lately about the “old type” of Purebred Arabian\u2014but hardly anyone can define exactly what is meant by that. Essentially, it is the type of Arabian that we “older folks” got to know when we first came into contact with this breed. For most of us, that was 30, 40, or even 50 years ago. The horse of our childhood and youth is our ideal. The young people in the Middle East, who are particularly enthusiastic about the (beauty) shows there, are getting to know a completely different type of Arabian. For them, too, this “first contact” shapes their ideal, not least because these are the horses standing on the winners’ podiums at the shows! For us, these horses are miles away from our ideal, but only because we had a different starting point. This phenomenon is called a “Shifting Baseline.” The shift is measured in comparison to previous reference points. However, these reference points may themselves already represent significant changes compared to an even earlier state. Applied to our horses, that first reference point would be the original Arabians imported to Europe in the 19th century. European breeders then bred the race according to their own ideas, but also changed it. Our own first contact, meaning our baseline, then lies in the 1970s to 1990s. Due to the onset of specialization, breeding\u2014and the horse itself\u2014has changed further. Not just the Arabians for the show ring, but also the racing Arabians. There was a shift away from the all-rounder towards the specialist. But the young generation coming to the Arabian horse today does not know the horses of the 70s to 90s. They know today’s horses\u2014and take them as “normal” and “given,” defining them as their standard.<\/br><\/br>\r\nSo the question is, how can we make this “old type,” the all-rounder from our early days, appealing to a young breeder of today?\r\nIdeas are needed!<\/br>\r\n
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<\/p>\r\n<\/br>\r\n<\/br>\r\nGudrun Waiditschka<\/em>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Generation Change The Purebred Arabian has been at home in Europe for around 200 years. Sometimes, however, I get the creeping feeling that its time being bred here is drawing to a close. The latest figures from the VZAP state that in 2022 we still had 426 breeders in Germany\u2014in 2011 it was more than … <\/p>\n